Bible in 10 sentences
Posted on:: November 26th, 2003
If you run the book of Genesis through Microsoft Word’s automatic summarizer and ask for a ten-sentence summary you get:
31 Terah took Abram his son, Lot the son of Haran, his son’s son, and Sarai his daughter-in-law, his son Abram’s wife. 17 Abraham prayed to God. 7 Isaac spoke to Abraham his father, and said, “My father?” Abraham became the father of Isaac. Yahweh blessed him. 18 Jacob loved Rachel. 10 Zilpah, Leah’s handmaid, bore Jacob a son. Esau and Jacob, his sons, buried him.
19 The sons of Rachel, Jacob’s wife: Joseph and Ben
and a bunch of footnotes.
You know, it’s actually not that bad. At least they got God into it.
I think someone should write an expander tool that takes a short summary and key points you want to make and then pads it out to x,000 number of words.
Great for theses. Would solve litercay problems the world over.
I was thinking lately about how much I actually read–at least a book a week (quantity), and how much of what I read actually teaches me anything substantial (quality). I read to learn, and never just to pass the time (I blog to do that), but how much can I really say that I acquire from all my diligent activity? I have reflected on the question “What is learning?” in some detail within the recent past, and I would like to hear someone else’s perspective on this. What is learning? What is knowledge? What really matters? At what point can one say that learning has occured? Thank you.
There was a similar test done by British Telecom, summarizing Genesis to 200 words. Software was called Prosum, but typically can’t find the results. Anyone know where to get them?
And Peter, in terms of what is learning etc., don’t know if this’ll help but there’s a great definition: an intellectual is someone who’s been educated beyond their means.
Knowledge and Storage
Judith Meskill points us to an article that mentions some new technology for knowledge workers: knowledge management barriers… The following article is really about getting spammed on a continual basis, finally flipping your proverbial ‘bit’ and send…
Thanks, Piers–suddenly the world is clear!
lol, wow, Iv’e neva read the bible b4 but SOUNDS INTERESTING!